A major new report highlights what it describes as worsening religious freedom around the world. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)’s 2023 Annual Report urges that Nigeria and India should now be designated countries of particular concern.
It ‘sounds the alarm regarding the deterioration of religious freedom conditions in a range of countries’ and adds five countries to its list of the world’s worst offenders. They are Nigeria, India, Afghanistan, Syria, and Vietnam.
It also presses the US State Department to declare them countries of particular concern (CPCs), together with Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
Since 2009, USCIRF has highlighted Nigeria as a country where religious freedom is deteriorating, publicly criticising the State Department for leaving Nigeria off its list. It said: ‘Criminal activity and violent armed group incidents impacting religious freedom [has] worsened. Rampant violence and atrocities across Nigeria have continued to impact freedom of religion or belief, including militant Islamist violence.’
The report cites the terror group Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), which has attacked Christian communities, reportedly killing 40 in a single raid on a Catholic Church in Ondo State on Pentecost Sunday. USCIRF warns that ISWAP is expanding the territorial reach of its increasingly sophisticated attacks.
Release International, which supports persecuted Christians around the world, shares USCIRF’s concerns, and welcomes the report. However, Release International is dismayed that the report omits any reference to the growing attacks on Christian communities in the North and Middle belts by Fulani extremists.
‘The world must wake up to the reality of the worsening violence in Nigeria,’ says Paul Robinson, the CEO of Release International, ‘not only from Boko Haram and ISWAP, but at the hands of Fulani militants.’
Since 2020, USCIRF has been calling for India to be designated as a CPC for what it describes as ‘systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. Throughout the year, the Indian government at the national, state, and local levels promoted and enforced religiously discriminatory policies, including laws targeting religious conversion. This is creating an increasing climate of intimidation and fear.’
